Bill 17 – Proposed Changes To Alberta's Employment Standards Code

On May 24, 2017, the Government of Alberta tendered and passed first reading of Bill 17: Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act (the "Bill"). The Bill proposes a number of significant amendments to Alberta's Employment Standards Code and Labour Relations Code.

This blog post provides a summary of the key changes to Alberta's Employment Standards Code and is not a comprehensive summary of the Bill. Should the Bill pass in its current form, we anticipate the majority of changes taking effect January 1, 2018.

If passed, these amendments will have significant impacts on employers' policies, practices and businesses as a whole. They create expanded protections for leaves (although unpaid), which impacts staffing; impose administrative fines for non-compliance; give greater entitlements respecting vacation, holiday and overtime; and so forth.